Batang and her infant in the Great Ape House at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. (Photo by Alex Reddy, courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Bornean orangutan Batang gave birth just before 9 p.m. Monday evening to a male—the first orangutan birth at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in a quarter century.

Animal care staffers are “cautiously optimistic that the newborn will thrive” after observing Batang nurse him, according to the zoo.

A human pregnancy test confirmed that Batang was pregnant in June. The father is Kyle, another orangutan at The Great Ape House, following a recommendation from The Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The Species Survival Plan named the two 19-year-old orangutans a breeding pair.

“She’s starting to feel her hormones a little bit, and that’s making her feel a little frisky,” Erin Stromberg, a primate keeper at the zoo, told DCist after Batang was taken off human birth control last fall in an attempt to create a spark between Batang and Kyle. At the time, things were complicated by Kyle’s interest in another orangutan, Bonnie—”they copulate all of the time,” Stromberg said.

Even when Batang was still on birth control, zoo staffers had already started teaching her skills for motherhood and nursing, and throughout the summer posted photos of her training.

And it looks like Bonnie has no hard feelings—her and other female orangutan Iris also learned how to be surrogate mothers in case something happened to Batang.

Throughout the summer, as Batang’s pregnancy has progressed, her behavior—included her taste in food—changed.

The Great Ape House is closed off to visitors so Batang and her new son can get some quality time to bond, though folks can see the other five orangutans outside or at Think Tank.

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